Indian Govt Rejects Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s Allegations of Censorship & Threats

New Delhi: The Indian government strongly denied Twitter Ex-CEO Jack Dorsey’s claim that it received numerous requests to censor accounts critical of the government and reporting on farmers’ protests. Union IT Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar called Dorsey’s statement an “outright lie” and an attempt to revise Twitter’s controversial history in India.

This is an outright lie by @jack – perhaps an attempt to brush out that very dubious period of twitters history

Facts and truth@twitter undr Dorsey n his team were in repeated n continuous violations of India law. As a matter of fact they were in non-compliance with law… https://t.co/SlzmTcS3Fa

— Rajeev Chandrasekhar 🇮🇳 (@Rajeev_GoI) June 13, 2023

During an interview on the YouTube channel ‘Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar,’ Dorsey mentioned that India was among the countries pressuring Twitter, citing requests related to farmers’ protests and critical journalists. He also mentioned Turkey and Nigeria in similar contexts. Opposition parties seized upon Dorsey’s comments to criticize the government.

Union Minister Anurag Thakur dismissed Dorsey’s claims as a “blatant lie” and accused him of attempting to cover up Twitter’s misdeeds. Chandrasekhar accused Twitter of weaponizing misinformation against India and its government, stating that the company repeatedly violated Indian law during Dorsey’s tenure.

Chandrasekhar emphasized that the government expects all platforms, regardless of their origin or size, to comply with Indian laws when operating in the country. He mentioned Twitter’s non-compliance from 2020 to 2022 and clarified that no one was jailed or the platform shut down during that time. Chandrasekhar stressed the importance of removing misinformation from the platform, especially during the protests in January 2021.

The minister alleged that Twitter, under Dorsey’s leadership, demonstrated partisan behaviour and violated constitutional articles by de-amplifying and de-platforming users arbitrarily. He accused Twitter of assisting in the weaponization of misinformation. Chandrasekhar concluded by stating that the government’s policy for all intermediaries operating in India is to ensure compliance with laws to maintain a safe and trusted internet.

The Congress party criticized the government, claiming that Dorsey’s remarks further highlighted its suppression of social media and media freedom. Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate demanded that the government cease its attempts to coerce and suppress various sections of the media.

The year-long farmers’ protests ended in November 2021 after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the withdrawal of three contentious farm laws.